Meet the Team

Michael Glotzbecker, MD

Chief, Pediatric Orthopaedics
Associate Surgeon in Chief
George H Thompson Chair in Pediatric Orthopaedics
UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital

Professor of Orthopaedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Glotzbecker joined the UH Rainbow team as Division Chief in September 2019 after being in practice in Boston for the previous 10 years. He received his undergraduate degree at Duke University and completed medical school at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. His residency training was completed at the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program and he completed his fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital. He has interests in scoliosis and other spinal conditions, pediatric trauma and fracture care as well as general pediatric orthopaedics. He is active in international study groups including the Pediatric Spine Study Group (Treasurer elect) where he previously served as chair and the Harms Study Group. He is past chair of the Quality and Safety committee of the Scoliosis Research Society and chair of the Spine Quality & Safety Value committee for POSNA. He currently is hospital lead for the Surgical Site Infection Clinical Effectiveness Team. Additionally, he is participating in the MBA program at Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. His wife, Brett, is Chief Medical Officer of the UH Academic Market. His twins, now 9, love to swim and dance.  They also love Harry Potter and Taylor Swift. They were able to visit Harry Potter World for the first time in December and plan to see Taylor Swift in concert this coming October. They also have a new Portuguese water dog puppy, Isla.

Contact: Michael.Glotzbecker@UHhospitals.org

Allison Gilmore, MD

Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s 

Associate Professor of Orthopaedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Allison Gilmore, a life-long Clevelander, obtained her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Exercise Science at Ohio State University and Cleveland State University. She obtained her medical degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in orthopaedic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Cleveland and subsequent fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital and has been a practicing pediatric orthopaedic surgeon at Rainbow since graduation. Dr. Gilmore has expertise in the evaluation of the full-spectrum of general pediatric orthopaedic conditions and has a special interest in pediatric surgical sports medicine. 
Dr. Gilmore lives in Shaker Heights with her husband Michael, an attorney, and son Bailey. In her spare time she enjoys running and weight lifting.

Contact: Allison.Gilmore@UHhospitals.org

Christina Hardesty, MD

Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s 
Associate Program Director of the Orthopaedic Surgery Residency 

Associate Professor of Orthopaedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Chris Hardesty was raised near Sacramento, California and obtained her undergraduate degree in Biology and Math at Hendrix College. She attended medical school and completed an orthopaedic surgery residency at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She completed a fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital and a secondary fellowship in Neuromuscular Orthopaedic Surgery at A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children.  Dr. Hardesty’s clinical interests include pediatric spine deformity (such as scoliosis), baclofen pumps, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, spinal muscular atrophy, and other neuromuscular disorders. She is the leader of the Graduates Research Interest Group of the Pediatric Spine Study Group, chair elect of the Education Resource Committee of the Scoliosis Research Society, on the Board of Directors of the Spasticity Treatment and Research Society, and the board president of Youth Challenge in Cleveland.  In her spare time, she is an Orangetheory addict, bakes a lot, and sometimes flies airplanes. She and her husband, Dustin, have 2 boys (Jack, 10 and Henry, 6). They keep her on her toes.

Contact: Christina.Hardesty@UHhospitals.org

Katharine Hollnagel, MD

Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s 

Assistant Professor of Orthopedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Katharine Hollnagel is the most recent addition to the UH Rainbow team.  She is a Northeast Ohio native who was born in Akron, Ohio and raised in Hudson, Ohio.  She received her undergraduate degree from Colgate University and completed medical school at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.  She completed her orthopedic surgery residency training at the University of Toledo Medical Center in Toledo, Ohio.  Following residency, she completed fellowships in Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California, where she was selected the Lena Sefton Clark Fellow, and Pediatric and Young Adult Hip Preservation Surgery from Boston Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.  Her clinical interests include developmental dysplasia of the hip, femoroacetabular impingement, Legg-Calve-Perthes disease, slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE), and other complex hip deformities as well as orthopedic trauma.  Her husband, Dr. Zane Giffen, is a general urologist practicing in Northeast Ohio, and in their free time they enjoy golf, tennis, and hiking with their rescue dog, Mira.  They just had their first child William in December!

Contact: Katharine.Hollnagel@UHhospitals.org

Raymond Liu, MD

Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s 

Victor M. Goldberg Professor of Orthopaedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Raymond Liu was raised in San Dimas, California, and obtained his degree in bioengineering at the University of California, San Diego. After medical school at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, he completed an orthopaedic surgery residency at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). He returned to San Diego for his pediatric orthopaedic surgery fellowship, followed by a mini-fellowship at the Paley Advanced Limb Lengthening Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida. He is the Victor M. Goldberg Professor of Orthopaedics, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, with a specialization in complex limb deformity. He is the Second Past President of the Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Society and Deputy Editor for Hip and Lower Extremity, Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics.  He enjoys running and spending time with his family.

Contact: Raymond.Liu@UHhospitals.org

R. Justin Mistovich, MD

Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s

Associate Professor of Orthopaedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

A northeast Ohio native, Dr. Justin Mistovich grew up in Youngstown. He completed an orthopaedic residency at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, followed by fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He was also selected for a Traveling Fellowship by the Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America. His research and clinical interests include sports medicine and the care of the growing athlete, scoliosis, and the optimal management of pediatric and adolescent fractures. He currently serves as a Director of the Pediatric Research in Sports Medicine Society. At Rainbow, he serves as the Fellowship Program Director, and also serves as the Division Director of Pediatric Orthopaedics at MetroHealth. Dr. Mistovich and his wife Keili, a pediatrician, live in Cleveland Heights with Madeleine, their 12-year-old daughter, and Frank, their Vizsla. In their free time, they enjoy sailing and all things Lake Erie, old wooden boat and old home restoration, reading, and tennis.

Contact: Justin.Mistovich@UHhospitals.org

Jochen Son-Hing, MD

Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgeon, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s 

Associate Professor of Orthopaedics
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Jochen (Joe) Son-Hing was raised in Vancouver, Canada and obtained his undergraduate degree in Biology at McGill University in Montréal. He then returned to his hometown for medical school and a subsequent residency in orthopaedic surgery at the University of British Columbia. He pursued a fellowship in Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery at UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, under the leadership of Dr. George Thompson, and was then a Visiting Scholar in spine surgery at Washington University in St. Louis, under the direction of Dr. Lawrence Lenke. He is skilled in the evaluation of the full-spectrum of general pediatric orthopaedic conditions and has a special interest in pediatric spine deformity, like scoliosis, as well as the care of acute fractures and their long-term sequelae. His wife is a registered nurse and native Northeast Ohioan. They have 3 children.

Contact: Jochen.Hon-Sing@UHhospitals.org

George H. Thompson, MD

Past Division Chief, Pediatric Orthopaedics, UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s 

Professor Emeritus, Orthopaedic Surgery
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Dr. Thompson joined the Department of Orthopaedics at University Hospitals in 1979 and served as Division Chief of Pediatric Orthopaedics from 1987 until his retirement in 2019. He remains very active academically. Currently, he is the Executive Editor, Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics; the Co-Chair of the Salter Society (HSC Pediatric Orthopaedic Alumni); Chairman of the Board, La Societe Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopaedique et de Traumatologie (SICOT) Foundation; Chair Emeritus, Medical Advisory Board, Shriners Hospital for Children (SHC); and the Past-Historian of the Scoliosis Research Society (SRS). He graduated from Oklahoma State University (OSU) in 1966 and the Oklahoma University School of Medicine (OUSOM) in 1970. His surgical internship, and orthopaedic surgery residency (1970-1977) was at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center. After residency he had a pediatric orthopaedic surgery fellowship at the Hospital for Sick Children (HSC) at the University of Toronto (1978). Dr. Thompson has had a very productive academic career. He served as President of six orthopaedic societies or organizations and numerous national orthopaedic committees and received many clinical honors and awards. On October 25, 2023, it was announced that the Annual Rainbow Professorship has been endowed and renamed the Annual George H. Thompson/Connie Poe-Kochert Professorship in his honor and that of his clinical nurse of 38 years who coordinated the division’s spine and research activities. Dr. Thompson has had 177 national and international visiting professorships or guest lectureships. He has published 245 peer-reviewed articles, 103 chapters in textbooks and edited 6 textbooks. He has presented more than 1,000 regional, national and international lectures.  

Contact: George.Thompson@UHhospitals.org

Emily Canitia, MSN, APRN, CPNP

Special Interests: Pediatric fractures, limb deficiencies, hip preservation

Emily is one of our Pediatric Nurse Practitioners that has been with the department for eight years. She partners primarily with Dr. Raymond Liu and Dr. Katharine Hollnagel. She sees patients with general orthopaedic injuries and issues, assists with our pediatric limb deformity and lengthening patients as well as hip deformity patients, and coordinates care for our patients with external fixation devices. Emily and her husband have 3 young and busy children and an energetic Australian shepherd.

Michelle Calabretta, MSN, APRN, CPNP

Special Interests: Pediatric fractures, acute injuries, sports medicine

Michelle is a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner who has been with our department for eight years. She sees patients independently and specializes in fracture care, acute injuries, and sports medicine injuries. She also partners primarily with Dr. Allison Gilmore and helps to coordinate care for our sports medicine and arthroscopic surgery patients. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children.

Michelle Janas MSN, RN, CPN

Special Interests: Scoliosis, neuromuscular deformities, general orthopaedics

Michelle is one of our advanced clinical nurse specialists and has been with our department for eight years. She specializes in scoliosis, cerebral palsy, and tone management. She primarily partners with Dr. Christina Hardesty.  She helps to manage and coordinate idiopathic, congenital, and neuromuscular spinal deformity patients, intrathecal baclofen pump management, as well as general orthopaedics. Michelle and her husband have 4 children and 3 grandchildren. In her free time she like to travel, read, and hike. 

Michelle Moran, BSN, RN, CPN

Special Interests: Scoliosis, spine disorders, general orthopaedics

Michelle has been a nurse at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital for more than 28 years. She worked on the surgical trauma floor for 14 years before joining the pediatric orthopaedics team. Michelle primarily partners with Dr. Michael Glotzbecker, Dr. Jochen Son-Hing, and Dr. R. Justin Mistovich. She enjoys working as an advanced clinical nurse coordinating care while providing support and education to families. Michelle and her husband have 3 college age sons and she enjoys playing pickle ball

Nicole (Nikki) Sharp, MSN, APRN, CPNP

Special Interests: Scoliosis, spine disorders, general orthopaedics

Nikki has been at UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital for over 17 years. She worked as a bedside nurse on the medical-surgical floor, then became a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner in 2013  with the Pediatric Comprehensive Care team prior to joining our department. She brings her vast knowledge of complex pediatric medical care to her role in pediatric orthopaedics. She cares for patients with spinal deformities as well as general pediatric fractures and other orthopaedic issues. She partners primarily with Dr. Michael Glotzbecker, Dr. Son-Hing and Dr. Mistovich, but also sees patients independently. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her family and her goldendoodle.